Studi Strategici ed Intelligence… for dummies

Iran: sui colloqui di Baghdad…

For the past decade, the US and its allies have been insisting that Iran suspend enrichment. Back when we started making that demand (in 2001 or so), Iran had no centrifuges in operation. We’ve continued to issue these ultimatums for more than a decade, and Iran now has thousands of centrifuges in operation and a stockpile of enriched uranium that we’re now trying to get them to give up. In short, our take-it-or-leave-it approach to this problem has been a complete failure, and you’d think those in charge of U.S. policy would have recognized this by now.

As I noted awhile back, the current impasse reflects a significant shift in our approach to arms control. In the past, we understood that arms control was a diplomatic process of mutual compromise, designed to produce a situation that was ultimately better for both sides. Arms control agreements didn’t get the participants everything they might want, but they worked if each side understood that they’d be better off striking a reasonable deal. Today, “arms control” consists of our making unilateral demands, and insisting that other side give us what we want before we’ll seriously consider what they want.